Warner Bros. Discovery is NOT Done with Batgirl for the DCEU!?

Aug 12, 20223 min read

Despite just canceling Leslie Grace's solo film, Warner Bros. Discovery still wants to keep her as Batgirl in the DC Extended Universe. As part of its "cost-cutting" strategies, the studio scrapped the nearly finished, $90 million Batgirl movie. The film's subpar test results didn't help much. However, according to some accounts, Shazam! Fury of the God and Black Adam both received the same rating from the test audience as Batgirl, but WBD decided to scrap the project believing the Batgirl movie was brand damaging and not worth the extra cost of reshoots.

Fans and members of the film industry alike were astounded by the unusual action, and everyone was left wondering how a studio could cancel a movie like Batgirl while maintaining its financial stability. It appears that WBD will be eligible for a tax write-off for Batgirl. Many fan and celebrities, has called out WBD claiming the decision to cancel the movie was due to the lead being a woman and a person of color. However, where was this outrage when Joss Whedon cut out Ray Fisher and many other people of color in the infamous, Josstice League?

Warner Bros. Discovery and the test audiences did not find anything wrong with Leslie Grace's portrayal, even though Batgirl has been labeled "irredeemable" and compared to a "poor TV show." Grace's choice to play Batgirl initially divided fans, but she was eventually beginning to win them over with her excitement for the part. Fans were anticipating Batgirl before WB shelved it since it also features Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser. Although if we were being honest most fans simply wanted to see Michael Keaton return as the caped crusader and Brendan Fraser, who is a fun and lovable leading man. Having these two great actors get 90s fans much nostalgia.

Although the future, as of now, is hard to predict it seems like Batgirl will be featured in cameos or some support in future movies. Ben Affleck’s Batman movie, which was canceled and repurpose as Matt Reeves’s The Batman, was rumor to feature Batgirl in a cameo. With the exciting announcement of Ben Affleck returning as the dark knight in Aquaman in the Lost Kingdom, this could mean a bright future for both Ben Affleck’s Batman and Leslie Grace’s Batgirl. Brendan Fraser could easily have a part in Ben Affleck’s Batman movie and WBD and DC could get a live-action adaption of the popular animated series Batman Beyond, with Keaton as an aging Bruce Wayne and a younger actor to play Terry McGinnis.

After the announcement of the cancelation, many fans went to social media and as been trying to campaign for WBD to release the movie, using a campaign similar to that of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, fans have been hashtagging, #SaveBatGirl or #ReleaseBatGirlMovie. The campaign hasn’t taken off much yet, although it did take the Snyder cut campaign a while to take off. So fans will have to be patient and wait to see how the future pan out not only for Leslie Grace’s Batgirl, but also for Ben Affleck’s Batman and the rest of DCEU.